Flamenco guitar Domingo Esteso 1933

This flamenco guitar is built in the legendary guitar-maker’s workshop Domingo Esteso, in 7th Gravina Street, Madrid, the year 1933. This luthier was one of the most distinguished disciples of Manuel Ramirez along with Santos Hernandez and Enrique Garcie, with who he shared the workshop in that time. In the year 1915 he decided to open his own workshop in 7th Gravina Street, where the most relevant figures of that time’s flamenco guitar were regulars. Domingo Esteso died in the year 1937 and is considered as one of the most important guitar-makers in Spanish guitar history.

The different kinds of wood picked for this guitar are really exclusive, impossible to find nowadays. The sound top is made of German spruce, with an even and straight grain on the entire surface. The back and sides are made of beautiful cypress tree, with a straight and simple veining.

This flamenco guitar is here to remind us, once more, Domingo Esteso´s greatness as a luthier. It is surprising to see the way Esteso´s guitars freeze time. Listening to a single chord from his guitars suddenly makes you focus all your attention on the sound from his instruments… Well, this is what this guitar is like: one of these rare gems standing above the rest, a “macho” guitar, as it has really thick bass strings. Its trebles are really penetrating and accurate, and the sustain, astonishing.

The guitar tension is medium, and the height of strings in saddle and fingerboard, perfectly balanced, so it is quite a comfortable guitar for both hands.

The condition of conservation is excellent, it keeps the originality on all its parts including the headstock, nut, and shellac… It just has two small fissures on the sound top perfectly repaired and documented in the pictures attached. We must highlight the construction firmness this instrument shows, which make it appropriate to play it and use it in any situation, getting away from the rumors that say vintage guitars are fragile and delicate.